Sara Nightingale Gallery is pleased to present, Autonomous Vehicles, opening Tuesday, August 23rd from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. The exhibition will run through Sept. 27th.

In Kantian moral philosophy, autonomous means acting in accordance with one’s moral duty rather than one’s desires. A vehicle can be anything used to express, embody or fulfill something. Consequently, the exhibition title is open to interpretation and serves as a “vehicle" for hash-tagging words like #driverlessroadrage, #rubbernecking, #situationalawareness, #shotgun - words that seem to be driving our current socio-political culture.

Human error now equals #systemfailure. So whom do we blame when something goes wrong? God, humans, political systems or machines?

What is autonomy, and who or what possesses it? Can those who are marginalized or disenfranchised attain it? How will we as a society transition into abdicating our responsibilities and freedom to machines - machines that will certainly affect our free will, our individual autonomy?

Scott Sandell’s “Kites” first appeared when, after thirty years of printmaking, he wanted to make his prints come off the wall and into three dimensional space. Once they did, they assumed their own personality and behaviors; spinning in the breeze or by the hand of an onlooker. Evan Yee’s, Carrier, a bronze sculpture of a drone made from twigs and sticks, contrasts nature with technological advancement, as do Cara Enteles' paintings on industrial substrates of weeds overtaking a garden. Other artists in the exhibition, such as Christian Little and Perry Burns, make references to social media and the internet, autonomous vehicles in their own right. Scott Bluedorn’s, Ark, made from photo transfers from a 19th century encyclopedia, brings an historical perspective to the exhibition, citing religion and chance as players in our individual and collective destinies.

Street artist ESSAM’s Drone Zone Signs, meant to look like standard issue NYPD parking signs, were placed in various locations around New York City in 2012. Next to the signs, he stenciled quotes from the founding fathers addressing the issue of liberty vs. safety. Alexis Martino’s photographs of young adults "playing" with guns, suggest that we can either surrender our autonomy to technology (and its efficiency) for the destruction of human lives or for the expansion of empathy. Christa Maiwald’s “Backwards” portrait of Donald Trump, reveals loose threads and knots on the underside of her embroidery work, while Yuliya Lanina’s surreal mythical characters inhabit a fantastical universe. In one of Lanina's works on paper, a huge head of a cat hovers over a female character dressed only in lingerie, the cat’s large eye a witness to a private moment.

For more information and images contact Sara Nightingale: sara@saranightingale.com